Program overview

The BS degree in international hospitality and service management prepares students for a wide variety of career choices in food and beverage management, hotel/resort management, travel management, food marketing and distribution, and event management. A career in the hospitality industry has become highly specialized in today’s business world, and RIT graduates are in demand.

The program’s concentrations provide broad-based views of service management, hospitality, travel, and client care through a common core of courses. This approach promotes an understanding of the interrelationships among the food, lodging, travel, and meeting management industries based on the underlying concept of quality service management. This approach allows students to retain the flexibility to switch majors or jobs if their career goals change. These diverse and specialized fields require creative problem solving, technical knowledge, communication skills, and leadership.

RIT's program is among the nation’s leading hospitality and travel management programs, recognized by Forbes, Travel Weekly, Nation’s Restaurant News, and Corporate Travel magazines. Our alumni come from around the United States and from more than 38 countries.

Curriculum

The program’s curriculum is rigorous and challenging as it provides opportunities for students to develop their full potential in a managerial environment. The program is integrated, encompassing a broad base of competencies defined in partnership with faculty, students, and industry. Students take courses that build a strong concept of the industry as a whole by studying accounting, marketing, finance, economics, business management, behavioral sciences, human resource management, service management, nutrition, food preparation, food and beverage service principles, hotel operations, travel, tourism, and other topics.

In addition, some students may opt to create their own unique concentration based upon their interests. A preplanned set of courses must be completed with an adviser.

Cooperative education

The program requires each student to combine 1,200 hours of practical cooperative education experience with classroom theory. In co-op placements, students are introduced to hands-on learning in the service industry. Co-op usually is completed in the summer following the freshman and sophomore years and during any quarter in the junior and senior years, except the final quarter of the senior year, when students are required to be in residence on campus. Co-op is planned, monitored, and evaluated by the student, the co-op counselor, the faculty adviser, and the employing firm.

Concentrations

Students choose one concentration to fit the program to their career interests and goals.

Food management

It takes a wide range of knowledge to manage the daily operations of restaurants (from full-service to cafeteria, quick-service, and special chain operations); hotel fine dining and catering; clubs; and contract services for business, manufacturing, recreation and sports centers, education, health care, retail stores, government agencies, and food vending.

The food management concentration prepares students for management positions through lab experience in Henry’s, a full-service, beverage-licensed restaurant. Students learn essential principles and procedures for quality in food production and presentation, sanitation, nutrition, menu planning and merchandising, purchasing, product development, cost control, and service management. In addition, students develop competencies in problem solving and decision making through individual and team-based class projects, computerized exercises, and industry-related activities.

A student chapter of the New York State Restaurant Association fosters the exchange of ideas between professionals working in industry and students. The organization supports professional growth in organizational and social skills, and offers a place for students to network with professionals to make industry contacts. Students in their junior year are encouraged to attend the annual National Restaurant Association show in Chicago.

Food management (quarters)

Food and beverage management (semesters), effective fall 2013

Food marketing and distribution

This concentration prepares graduates for industry positions in food marketing, sales, and distribution and logistics. Graduates are uniquely qualified for positions in an array of food marketing and distribution industries worldwide. In particular, they understand a variety of issues, including food service operations and food marketing, logistics, distribution, and packaging.

Food marketing and distribution (quarters)

International food marketing and distribution (semesters), effective fall 2013

Entertainment and event management

The entertainment and event management concentration extends the hospitality educational experience to the various venues where special events, meetings, and conventions take place such as country clubs, marinas, sports stadiums, and casinos. Designing “wow” events and providing client satisfaction while managing risk and finances are critical skills developed through the curriculum. Students will participate in Puttin’ on the RITz, a black-tie dinner event and be offered opportunities to participate in off-campus special events as available.

Entertainment and event management (semesters), effective fall 2013

Health systems management

Health care is in the process of undergoing dynamic change in our country and in the global community. A successful health care professional is one with a desire to learn and the ability to adapt to change. This concentration prepares students for entry-level positions in the administrative areas of health care. When combined with another concentration that is more clinically based or hospitality oriented, the health systems management concentration can result in a level of expertise valued by health care systems today.

The concentration features a sequence of three survey courses and three specialized courses. The survey courses introduce the health care field while specialty courses explore topics in more depth. These courses are offered online only.

Health systems management (quarters)

Hotel and resort management

This concentration is focused on preparing students for the management and operation of hotel, resort, leisure, and related enterprises. Students will understand the physical characteristics of specific properties and gain the business expertise to manage and market them.

Industry professionals regularly offer their expertise in all of the program’s courses. Hospitality and service management students, in conjunction with the general manager of a local Rochester hotel, may enroll in a mentorship program sponsored by the Rochester Hotel Association. This allows students to work closely with executive managers on assigned research projects within a hotel.

Hotel and resort management students evaluate various technologies and service strategies in order to familiarize themselves with the industry’s best practices.

Hotel and resort management (quarters)

International hotel and resort management (semesters), effective fall 2013

Human resource management

All organizations share one fundamental concern: how to ensure that their employees are adequately prepared, organized, and managed to support common goals with flexibility.

The human resource management concentration provides students with the tools to recruit the most qualified applicants, help them grow and develop as an organization’s needs change, and keep them satisfied enough to stay on the job in this era of frequent turnover. Students also explore the global and legal issues around employment, both to enhance the work force and to avoid the cost of lawsuits.

All students who will be hiring, supervising, or managing in their future careers will benefit from gaining human resource administration competencies.

Human resource management (quarters)

Hospitality management

Students in this concentration will complete 15 semester hours of pre-approved coursework.

Travel and tourism management

The growth of modern travel has created many technical challenges for the movement of individuals and groups in a global corporate environment. With that comes the need to consult highly qualified experts to plan, arrange, and coordinate travel. Today more than ever before, travelers are faced with many alternatives for transportation, accommodations, and other travel services and rely increasingly on the travel professional to guide them wisely and honestly. Travel agencies and corporate travel consultants have an important impact on the hospitality and travel economies, including the food service, lodging and leisure, travel and transportation, and meetings and technology industries.

Travel management combines a study of specialized courses in travel management with a sound general education that includes courses in accounting, management, marketing, and business law. The concentration is structured to provide students with a balance of hands-on experience and management theory. This is necessary to further their understanding of why the travel industry operates as it does in its business environment. Students are also versed in the communications technologies that allow them to conduct research via the Internet. This career orientation provides students with a balance of theoretical classroom instruction and experiential opportunities furnished by cooperative education.

Course work prepares students for careers in corporate travel, consulting, and professional meeting management. Employment opportunities are excellent with hotels, resorts, retail travel agencies, major corporations, and other businesses.

Travel and tourism management (quarters)